This blog post is directed to my fellow New York personal injury lawyers who might have trip and fall cases from Buffalo, New York, but also it is worth reading if you have been injured by a defective sidewalk in the City of Buffalo, NY.
As my regular readers know, every year I cull through all the new cases involving “municipal liability” in New York State. I read all the reported decisions regarding lawsuits brought against cities, towns, counties, school districts, the State of New York and other governmental entities in New York. I then summarized the important new cases and travel around the State lecturing other New York personal injury lawyers about the new developments.
This year I noticed a new case from the Appellate Division, Fourth Department dealing with sidewalk defect cases in Buffalo, New York. Before I explain the case, you first have to understand that, in most cities in New York, trip-and-fall-on-sidewalk cases are very difficult because you have to sue the city and you also usually have to show that the city had “prior written notice” of the defect that made you trip and fall. And as a practical matter, there is almost never prior written notice of such defects because nobody goes around writing the City about sidewalk defects. At most, they might make a telephone call, but that is not enough to trigger liability for future falls; it must be prior written notice.
In Buffalo, though, things are different, and in fact, similar to the rule in New York City. By a special local law in Buffalo (413-50[A] of the Code of the City of Buffalo), the abutting landowner is responsible for maintaining the city sidewalk abutting his property and is liable for injuries caused by his or her failure to maintain the sidewalk, and no prior written notice is needed.
The case is called Davison v. City of Buffalo, 96 A.D.3d 1516, 947 N.Y.S.2d 702 (4th Dep’t 2012). Prior to this case, the Court had concluded that the Buffalo local law did not make the abutting landowners liable for defects in the abutting city sidewalk, but this new case changes the law in this regard.
This rule, while it may make homeowner insurance more expensive in Buffalo, will help victims of poor sidewalk maintenance.
Keep safe!
Mike Bersani
Email me at: bersani@mbk-law.com I’d love to hear from you!
Michael G. Bersani, Esq.
mbk-law.com Central NY Personal Injury Lawyer Michaels Bersani Kalabanka
1-315-253-3293